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Beyond Beyond; Episode 5

It
was around three in the afternoon when Rich made another reading. He
stepped on the roof of the cabin and stood on his toes. “That
should be Cape May.”

“I’d
like to get some beer and whiskey,” Salty said. “Just enough to
keep the bug away and wash down the grub once a day. My system has
become use to it. Not sayin’ it’s good or bad, just makes the day
better.”

“Shouldn’t
be too hard to find something,” Rich said.

“What
about you,” Salty said, “what do you have a hankerin’ for?”

“Nothing
in particular,” Rich said, “just think I’ll restock. We don’t
need much. But I’d sure like to get some doughnuts or a cream
stick.”

“You
can double that, mate,” Salty said. “I got a sweet tooth too.”

“How
‘bout if I give you the money,” Rich said, “and I’ll stay
with the boat. I got stuff on here I don’t want anybody to find out
about.”

“Sounds
like you’ve not told me everything,” Salty said.

“Not
intentionally,” Rich said. “This is the first I thought about it.
Open the bench you’re sitting on.”

Salty
stood and opened the bench. His face flashed with a comedic surprise
at the cache of weapons and ammunition. “What are you expecting, a
war?”

“That
was some of the stuff that was kept in the basement of The
Beacon,” Rich said. “I have no idea what it was going to be
used for. I told you those guys were radical. And if necessary take
things by force.”

“It
would take more than a handful of rifles,” Salty said.

“I
think the weapons were going to be used to commit other crimes,”
Rich said. “I think they were going to arm others who would be
stupid enough to create chaos. I’ve read some of their literature.
At the top are intellectuals; judges, writers, lawyers, law
enforcement, entertainers, ministers, elected officials, and wealthy
and influential community leaders and businessmen. They are
structured, but not well-organized. They didn’t know what to do
with me at first. In fact, the entire effort they used to try and
recruit me was slipshod. I’m no expert, but giving me a few books
to read and being nice to me seems very weak.”

“Some
people are meant to be bamboozled,” Salty said. “Guys like me
there’s not enough to work with, but you, smart guys like you...”

“Sam
saw me as easy prey,” Rich said. “I left home at an early age and
looking for some sort of structure, like a family and thought he was
filling a father or older brother figure. Guys like me are easy.”

“Apparently
that was not the case,” Salty said.

“Nevertheless,
I trusted him,” Rich said.

Salty
said, “but the minute you found what he was up to...”

“It
was almost too late,” Rich said.

They
sailed for another 15 minutes and Rich started the engine to make
sure he had power before entering the waterway that led to Cape May
Harbor. The engine responded soundly and was shut off.

Rich
turned on the radio to listen to the harbor traffic.

“This
is an announcement from the Cape May Harbor Police. Stay clear of a
38 foot sloop named The Odyssey. It is armed and considered
dangerous.”

Rich
and Salty looked startled at each other.

“Now
to where?” Salty said.

“I’ll
look at the charts,” Rich said and hurried below.

Rich
scanned the charts.

“We
are around 700 miles from Bermuda and over 800 from the Bahamas,”
Rich called out to Salty.

“I
think we may be going to Cape May after all,” Salty said and
lowering the binoculars from his eyes. “A boat in the distance is
moving toward us now.”

Rich
started up the companionway.

“Stay
below,” Salty said. “They’re looking for a young man not an old
sea dog like me.”

“Odyssey
is on the transom!” Rich said.

Salty
scratched his stubbled cheek. “You got black electrical tape?”

“Yeah,”
Rich said.

“You
got a first aid kit with some white tape?” Salty said.

“Yeah,”
Rich said puzzled.

“Get
it now!” Salty said.

From
a cabinet above the chart table Rich grabbed a role of white tape
from the first aid kit. He handed it to Salty.

“In
the bench across from you is a tool box,” Rich said. “There’s a
roll of black tape in the top.”

Salty
grabbed the black electrical tape. He scurried to the stern and
looked over the transom at the boat’s name, Odyssey. He
pulled at his lips and hesitated. Then he began ripping strips of
tape; at first the white and then the black. He applied them to the
transom. A pocket knife was pulled from his pocket and used it to
round the edges of the tape plastered against the transom. He
returned the back tape to the tool box and the white tape to the
first aid kit.

“Stay
out of sight,” Salty said.

“What
have you got planned?” Rich said.

“I’m
taking over as captain for a couple of minutes,” Salty said and
returned to the helm.

The
boat advanced quickly and slowed about 25 yards from The Odyssey,
starboard. Three uniformed officers on board braced themselves
with the roll of the sea. “Police” appeared in large black
letters on the side of the boat. It motored to the port side
maintaining the same distance.

Rich
remained huddled below in his bunk. His heart pounded; his mouth dry.
He had no idea what was taking place on deck.

“Ahoy!”
an officer shouted. “Harbor Police, Cape May

“Ahoy!”
Salty said and with an Irish accent he continued. “I sailed all the
way from Ireland to visit me sister and she sends the police to fetch
me. That’s a bit overdone, wouldn’t you agree?”

“If
you see a boat named The Odyssey, she is armed and dangerous.”
the officer said. “Stay clear of her and notify the Coast Guard or
police as soon as possible.”

“Stay
below until we loose visual contact,” Salty called into the cabin.

After
10 minutes Salty ducked his head in the cabin, “Hey, mate, it’s
all clear.”

Rich
popped up on deck and scanned aft. Nothing was in sight.

“Good
job, Salty,” Rich said, “You’re good under pressure. What did
you do about Odyssey on the transom.”

“It
was easy,” Salty said, “I took the black tape and put a C in
front of ODYSSEY. I took the white tape and covered the first S, that
gave me CODY SEY. I can’t think of any words that begin with SEY,
so I had to come up with something. I connected two lines with black
tape and did a little trim work with the white tape to make the
second S a B. I made the E into an O. It took a strip of black tape
and covering the middle line of the E. I trimmed the letters best I
could with the knife. When I was done Odyssey became CODY BOY. It’s
not pretty, but at a distance on a bobbing sea, who would notice?”

“Did
I say you are really really good under pressure?”

“Take
the helm, mate,” Salty said with the Irish accent. “and I’ll
strip off the old moniker. ‘tis a good name, but ‘tis for another
vessel, another day.”

Rich
smiled and looked at the compass. He thought, “Trust will never be
an issue with Salty.”

From Kenton Lewis: You Must Read This First To Know What The Heck Goes On Here

This site contains mostly fiction. Currently a novel is posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday entitled Beyond Beyond. It is broken down into short episodes between two and four pages each. Thus, if you enter on anything other than episode 1, it would be good the scroll down to find previous episodes.

The archives are full of short stories. Some short stories are very short, just one posting. Others are broken down into episodes also.

Every post contains 350 to 1,500 words.

Anyway, I hope you visit several times a week.

In addition, this site is free of promotions and advertising except for the sale of Kenton Lewis books. That's a hint. Otherwise just tuck a $20 bill in an envelop and email me for my address.

This Is He

Taken shortly after my beheading. I refused to give up coffee. "Not from my cold dead hands!"